WHEREAS, HUD’s American Housing Survey found
that 6 million households live with moderate to severe physical housing
problems, which place them at risk for various illnesses and injuries including
lead poisoning, asthma triggers, house fires, and slip and falls; and

WHEREAS, The U.S.
Conference of Mayors’ Lead Safe for Kids program has provided over $4 million
over the last 10 years and has been put to work in more than 40 cities, helping
to contribute to the significant reduction of children with elevated blood lead
levels from 4.4% of children under 6 years old in 1991 to less than 0.59%
today; and

WHEREAS, The U.S.
Conference of Mayors aided in the creation of HUD’s Lead Hazard Reduction
Demonstration Program, which to date has provided $353.8 million to reduce lead
hazards in cities around the nation; and

WHEREAS, other home-based
health hazards negatively impact cities and families including 40% of asthma
episodes triggered by home conditions costing $5 billion annually in healthcare
costs, and 13 million preventable home related injuries costing $222 billion
annually, as well as the 250,000 children still impacted by elevated blood lead
levels costing $43.4 billion in lost earning potential; and

WHEREAS, the success
gained on addressing lead can be expanded to address the host of home-based
health hazards that historically have only been addressed by individual
programs rather than comprehensively; and

WHEREAS, low income
households spend 14% of income on energy compared with only 3.5% for other
households resulting in increased foreclosure and eviction risks; and

WHEREAS, the Green and
Healthy Homes Initiative (GHHI) has emerged as a new model to improve
communities and the lives of those living within them by aligning programs,
braiding funding streams, and coordinating interventions to address home based
health and safety hazards and energy deficiencies, resulting in: improved
energy efficiency with fewer environmental impacts; better health outcomes for
our children, seniors and families; more efficient use of public investment
through improved interagency coordination; higher quality green jobs; reduced
barriers to school attendance and work among families with young children;
reduced energy costs for low and moderate income families; more effective and
sustainable home investments; and

WHEREAS, GHHI maximizes
public and philanthropic investments for 5 major benefits: government
innovation in service delivery; development of sustainable community-based
“green collar” jobs and social enterprise; creation of stable and sustainable
green and healthy homes in low and moderate income neighborhoods; measurable
improvements in health outcomes for children, seniors, and families; wealth
retention and improved property values; and

WHEREAS, initial results
have shown significant reductions in the incidents of severe asthma; reduced
emergency room visits, hospitalizations and doctor visits, and school absences;
blood lead levels have been reduced to below CDC action levels; reduced energy
consumption and lower energy bills; intervention cost savings from integrating
services and reducing duplicative work; and higher wages earned by persons
trained in green, healthy and lead safe assessments and interventions; and

WHEREAS, GHHI is working
to inform the Federal Healthy Homes Work Group (comprised of HUD, DOE, HHS,
DOL, EPA, DOA, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, among
others) and state and local agencies in the development of a national green and
healthy housing standard; and

WHEREAS, the National
Academy of Public Administration issued the report, “Achieving Green and
Healthy Homes and Communities in America” and recommended GHHI be taken to
scale nationally; and

WHEREAS, HUD’s paper,
“From Recovery to Reinvestment, the Impact of the Recovery Act on America’s
Cities” sets a goal of 100,000 Green and Healthy Homes across the nation over
the next 3 to 5 years; and

WHEREAS, GHHI provides the
opportunity to promote and advance affordable and safe housing post ARRA
through recapturing the savings from efficiencies and leveraging diverse
sources of investment.

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that The U.S.
Conference of Mayors calls on our members to support the Green and Healthy
Homes Initiative and the federal government’s plan for expansion to produce
100,000 Green and Healthy Homes in the next 3 to 5 years.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that The U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on Congress to provide
funding for federal programs and local green and healthy homes initiatives that
support braiding funding streams and coordinating interventions to address home
health and safety hazards and energy deficiencies.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that The U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on our members to model
effective GHHI systems reforms that can be done without significant cost
including: